Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Most home gardeners know certain varieties are consistently good performers for them. There are three ways to tell if a variety is a good performer for you general area. The first way is to pay close attention to the varieties being sold at local nurseries. Usually there will be one variety that is consistently sold at all of them. The second way is through word of mouth and the third is

Monday, September 21, 2009

So here we are~~a little more than 24 hours left of prep time before we leave for the land of OZ... The Wizard of Junk...Junkapalooza...Junk Heaven...Junka Junka Burnin' Love. I digress... It's crunch time. I will officially go into berzerk mode tomorrow am and Mr. Sweet Pea will continue in slow mo. I will break out the bossiness and tempers will flair. It's the dance we do every time.

The trailer is packed~~thank heaven, cause it rained off and on all day. There are a million little details though. I have my list.. Mr. Sweet Pea is laying (or is it lying?) on the living room floor pretending to be watching Monday night football on the "man" tv. This will be my last post until I return so I am leaving you with pics from previous Marburger shows in my booth~~all white of course as I will miss WHITE WEDNESDAY for two whole weeks. Until then, here's wishing you all love and peace. Looking forward to meeting some of you there...

Saturday, September 19, 2009

This is a wonderful time of year in the garden! The garden is blessing with it's abundance daily. I am dealing with a couple of problems and the ADFF (average day first frost) is quickly approaching. The days are getting shorter and cooler. The evenings have been fairly cool as well. After such a cool, wet summer it is hard to know whether we will have a nice autumn although that is the

The new after. New additions include toile shower curtains from Pottery Barn, which happen to match our existing paint perfectly. Thanks to Joan for her input on this!

We also installed Horizon Shutters after finally fixing the trim on the Marvin replacement window.

A simple detail but one that I love, love, love...our new porcelain cross handles. I came across these about a year ago (they're reproductions) and realized that they would fit our existing faucet (also a reproduction). Switching them out was easy - I discovered this by watching hubby do it.

This is the original paint color we used during the first remodel and I still love it.

I was considering a salon wall here but since I'm currently working on a salon wall in our den, I didn't have enough pictures for it. What do you think? Add a salon wall or leave it?

I spruced up some of my Grandmother's old picture frames with some botanical prints from one of my salvage books. It's amazing how many things of hers - things I grew up with - have found a place in our home!

Did I mention how much I love the new porcelain cross handles? And the vase is another piece from my Grandmother. xo

This is how we found this bathroom when we bought the house three years ago. Like the kitchen, we never used it before we gutted it. This was attributed to some plumbing issues and the fact that we couldn't wait to cleanse it of the 1970's grooviness.

After we gutted it, we updated plumbing & electrical, added insulation, new drywall, crown and base moldings and replaced the fixtures (claw foot bathtub, sink and toilet). The only thing we recycled from the original bathroom was the medicine cabinet. Tub, sink and toilet got hauled off to the Rebuild It Center in town.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

OMG it's official... One week from today Mr. Sweet Pea and I start the long drive to my favorite place on earth. For this week's WHITE WEDNESDAY I went back in time to the first time I walked into LEFTOVERS in Brenham Texas. This place is unlike anything I had ever seen before. Ed and Michael are so awesome~~they host a fab party on Saturday night before the opening of our show and spare no expense on the food and wine. And the shop? Holy moly, it rocks! Feast your eyes on this...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I used to love the show, Alias. Still do, really, but it went downhill in later seasons. But those first couple of seasons-- wow!-- they were incredible. Aside from the occasional racy outfit, the predicaments and feats of Sydney Bristow were cliff-hangingly delightful.

At certain points, when Sydney was facing a dangerous point in a mission, she'd go "radio silent". Maybe she didn't want to be detected by enemies, maybe she needed full concentration, or maybe the radio transmitter would interfere with the mission at hand. Whatever the case, for a period of time, she'd turn off her earpiece and her microphone and just do what she needed to do.

In my own effort to give full concentration to the job at hand, I'm sensing that I need to turn off the communications for a while and enter a time of "radio silence" with Making Home.

There's a lot I'm learning and growing in... and I want to learn and grow more. I'm 29, ya know? (Though, to be truthful, I only have about 4-5 more weeks I can say that.) :) There's this awesome man I get to hang out with and serve and love and grow with, and I don't want to be distracted by technology. There's raising, training, and schooling these four wild and wonderful kiddos... and I want to do that well. I have a funny little recently-weaned 18-month-old who needs some training and lovins. There are incredible books I want to read... most of all, the central book of my life: God's Word.

I don't want to get to the point where everything becomes related to an online world. I don't ever want my kiddos to think that computer interactions are the most significant in my life. And I just need to exercise some good ole' self-discipline. And I guess, to relate this all to Sydney & her crazy wigs, I don't want these optional (often even helpful) transmissions and communications to interfere with the task I've been given to do in this period of time.

Please don't take this as a judgment on anyone else, or on you, or even on me a year ago or me a year from now. For years, I've read other people's "I need to step away" blogposts and message board comments and seen that as a portion of their own personal journey. This is mine... for now.

I don't know how long this season will last, but I am certain that don't want to contribute to "noise" or just put more opinions out there. I don't want to be a resounding gong or spend time creating unnecessary yokes for others. If and when I write, I want the things I say to *last*-- to have meaningful, biblical, practical helps for the people who read them-- to hold up over the course of time and not just be a flash-in-the-pan perspective based on personal or cultural ideas-- and to communicate both love and truth. In recent days, I've gone back through old posts and deleted many. I've tried to whittle down Making Home to more of a central message/theme in hopes that those who continue to read here will be encouraged and challenged to follow Christ.

For this next "season", I need to shut off the communications, gain some perspective, and focus in on my task. I enjoy interacting with you all. I love being able to share what I'm learning or tips I've picked up along the way and encourage, challenge, and/or help others. I even enjoy getting gentle pushback when others have a different perspective. And it is truly joyful for me to point people towards Christ-honoring, valuable, and thought-provoking resources.

But for now, I need to give my focus and the "best" of who I am and what I have to the people who are right here in front of me. This summer has given me some perspective on that, and I'm gonna run with it for now. I have no idea how long it will last; I'm sure I'll still keep up with some of you via your own blogs... but for this portion of my "task", I'm flipping the switch and going radio silent. See you on the other side.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

After switching templates, I had to go back and fix each photograph on my blog. This resulted in returning to those early days of the remodel. When I came across this old 'before' photo, I was reminded of how far we've come.

After having remodeled every stitch of this farmhouse, we're finally at the stage where we've been updating some of our original updates! It's exciting because now all the basics like electrical & plumbing, drywall and baseboards are done - it's such a luxury!

I'm finding that I have the energy and patience to really think about the small aesthetic details I felt too rushed and overwhelmed to contemplate during the early remodel. I'm reveling in these aesthetic details as I update our downstairs bathroom right now - photos to soon follow!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

This week's installment takes us to the living room. I am accustomed to taking my pics by the light of day, and not using the flash to get a more tonal picture. This usually works well for me and I did take many of the pics using that mindset. I decided however to take some shots in the evening with the lamps on to see what effect I got. I think it gives a softer more warm feeling. Let me know what you think...

Monday, September 7, 2009

I have an apron for every occasion. I happened across my apron collection the other day while Hubby was working from home.

The conversation we had five minutes before went something like this...

"I have to work for a few more hours," he said."I promise I won't interrupt," I replied.

Less than five minutes later.

"IJUSTFOUNDMYAPRONSLET'SDOAPHOTOSHOOT!"

His face said no but he indulged me anyway. Here's a few of my favorites...

This red floral is like a dress - perfect for a summer BBQ.

This one screams, "bake a cake!"

Who says I don't dress up for Halloween?

My Grandmother's old Thanksgiving apron.

This classic white apron, a favorite (stains and all), makes everything you cook taste better. It gives you the idea that somewhere along the line, you went to cooking school. I wear this a lot for hubby's sake. Note: wasp on shoulder!